The Importance of Having Cedric

The Bowie Baysox are 60-55 and in first place in the Eastern League Western Division. So far they are 3-5 this month, though they have outscored their opponents 49 to 43. But that’s not the whole story, either.

Last night, the Baysox hit five home runs, scored 14 runs, and beat the Harrisburg Senators 14-2. The Senators, for their part, hit two home runs. Most of the home runs scored in the game can be attributed to Cedric. Yet only one of those home runs was hit by Cedric himself.

This is the story: Last night the Bowie Baysox played the Harrisburg Senators. It also happened to be a night in which a group of boys, approximately 10 to 16 years old, were in attendance at the Baysox game. They were loud and exuberant and they immediately took a liking to the Baysox’ leadoff batter Cedric Mullins.

In the first inning, they began chanting, “Ced-ric Mul-lins” followed by the rhythmic clap, clap, clap-clap-clap so often heard at baseball stadiums. In response, Cedric hit a home run, immediately putting Bowie on the board.

So the boys kept chanting Cedric’s name; it did not matter if the rest of the players were not named Cedric Mullins. After Mullins’ lead off home run, the next batter, Baltimore Orioles rehabbing infielder Ryan Flaherty, singled. The boys chanted. After the next batter made an out, the rehabbing Anthony Santander homered, and the boys chanted.

By the end of the first inning, the Baysox were leading 4-0. For nearly every batter, the group of boys chanted not the batter’s name, but Cedric Mullins’ name. The chanting continued into the top of the second inning, even though the Senators were batting. The young men continued to show their love for Cedric Mullins. So Raudy Read and Drew Ward each hit home runs – for the visiting team.

Baysox 4, Senators 2.

As the game progressed, the boys’ interest in both the game and Mullins ebbed and flowed. But in the bottom of the sixth, as the game got more interesting, their attention again turned to Cedric Mullins after Austin Wynns walked and Erick Salcedo singled. Before his name was even announced, the chanting started all over again, as loud as it had been in the first inning.

And then Austin Hays hit a grand slam. And the small crowd in the stadium went wild. One by one, they crossed the plate: Salcedo, then Mullins, then Flaherty, then Hays.

Baysox 12, Senators 2.

“Aus-tin Ha-ys (clap, clap, clap-clap-clap) …”

The chants may have changed by the end of the game, but with Cedric Mullins, and his fan club’s adoration, the Baysox might never have hit those five home runs last night (nor might the Senators have hit their two). The importance of Cedric Mullins to the outcome of yesterday’s game, and the Baysox’ 2017 success, cannot be overstated.